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The Indo-Tibetan
Border Police Force (ITBP) has moved 19 highly trained dog teams to New Delhi
for sanitising various venues for the forthcoming Indo-Africa Summit Forum
(IASF). Heads of government from 54 countries would be staying in New Delhi for
the summit, one of the most important international meets organised by India
after NAM and CHOGAM in 1983.

Sources said ITBP
dog teams were scrambled to the Capital after the intelligence establishment
had intercepted electronic chatter indicating a possible terror plan to target
the meet that begins next week. A very high threat perception was sounded and a
tight multi-agency security blanket is being thrown around the city.

The ITBP is
providing the largest number of dog teams, which would carry out anti-sabotage
checks at places where the visiting dignitaries would be staying and attending
various events, an officer said. The K-9 teams have already started combing
operations, he added.

ITBP K-9 units
consist of Malinois, Labradors and German Shepherds, who are considered the
most elite anti-sabotage dog squads in the country, having undergone a
revolutionary type of training devised by ITBP at its National Dog Training
Centre at Bhanu near here.

Army Veterans Sign
Petition to PM Modi in Blood on One Rank One Pension

New Delhi:Retired colonel VN Thapar, father of Kargil
martyr Captain Vijayant Thapar, was one of the army veterans who signed a
petition soaked in blood to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately
implement the One Rank One Pension (OROP) policy.

Over 150 other
ex-servicemen -- ranging from retired general officers to junior commissioned
officers -- first drew out their blood in small vials, and then put it in a pot
before signing their petition to the Prime Minister.

"I have lost my
son Captain Vijayant Thapar. There are many who have lost their limbs in the
battlefield. It's the same blood here that lies scattered on the
battlefield," said an emotional Mr Thapar at Jantar Mantar, the site of
ongoing protest for the past four and half months.

On September 5, the
government had announced that it was accepting One Rank One Pension proposal.
But more than a month later, veterans point out, the OROP order is yet to be
formally issued. There are other apprehensions too.

For example,
veterans want pensions to be equalised every year or at most every two years.
The Government, on the other hand, has proposed a 5 year interval for revision
of pensions.

Veterans want the
government to clearly say that the OROP will apply to all those who take
pre-mature retirement from the forces.

Even though the
government has clarified that it will be applicable to people who take
voluntary retirement service or VRS, veterans aren't convinced.

Veterans also want
ex-servicemen to be part of the one-man committee that will study different
aspects of OROP implementation.

"We are
apprehensive that the government may not implement what they have agreed
to," said Major General (Retd) Satbir Singh, who has been the face of the
protests so far.

The government is
expected to issue the OROP orders once polling in Bihar is over. But if it
fails to address the concerns raised by the veterans, once again, ex-servicemen
have promised to intensify their agitation.

British Army
Enlisted Indian Children as Young as 10 in World War 1, Claims Book

London:Britain's World War I Army included Indian
children as young as 10-years-old fighting against the Germans on the western
front, according to a new book on the role of Indian soldiers in the Great War.

The youngsters were
shipped over to France from the far reaches of the British Empire to carry out
support roles, but were so close to the front line that many were wounded and
admitted to hospital, according to 'For King and Another Country: Indian
Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-18'.

The account by
writer and historian Shrabani Basu is based on official papers at the National
Archives and British Library.

Some of the Indian
children, including a 10-year-old "bellows blower", and two grooms,
both 12, provided support to cavalry regiments, a 'Sunday Times' report said.

One of the youngest
boys involved in direct combat was a "brave little Gurkha" called
Pim, 16, who was given an award for valour by Queen Mary while he was
recuperating in hospital in Brighton.

Ms Basu believes
many of the children came from poor families and that they would have lied
about their age at recruitment offices in India, where they were encouraged to
sign up for a monthly salary of Rs. 11.

"In the case of
a 10-year-old, it should have been pretty obvious that they were
underage," she told the newspaper.

This embarrassment
was shared by some British officials. In one dispatch to Lord Kitchener,
secretary of state for war, Sir Walter Lawrence, a civil servant tasked with
overseeing injured Indian troops, wrote: "It seems a great pity that
children should have been allowed to come to Europe."

About 1.5 million
Indian soldiers fought for Britain in the First World War, with a handful being
awarded the Victoria Cross bravery medal.

Ms Basu's book, to
be published by Bloomsbury on November 5, also reveals that British nurses were
barred from treating Indian soldiers in war hospitals and were allowed only to
supervise orderlies, leading to claims of discrimination.